Meet Tik

Tik Maynard is a horse behavior expert, trainer, coach, clinician, best-selling author, and international-level competitor who has combined his love of eventing with horsemanship training. Tik grew up riding in the show jumping ring frequently and eventually became interested in Modern Pentathalon - a sport in which he won the National Championships and competed in the World Championships twice.

He and his wife, Sinead Halpin, who is a 5* three day event rider and member of the U.S. Equestrian Team, run Copperline Farm in Citra, Florida, accompanied by their two young children. Most recently, he won the 2024 Road to the Horse Competition, considered by most to be the World Championships of colt starting.

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You Will Learn How To...

Learn What Motivates

Understand what motivates your horse to do something

Identify Root Causes

Identify root causes and patterns of your horses' behaviors

Read Your Horse

Read your horses' anxiety level to help them cope with stress

Put Your Horse at Ease

Make your horse comfortable and focused in new situations

Introducing Play with Your Horse

Play is not work - Play is something we choose to do.

So, by definition, work can also turn to play by making it something the horse chooses to engage in. Learn from 2024 Road to the Horse champion and FEI event rider Tik Maynard, and leave this program with a better base of communication skills, a proven method of transforming "work" into "play," and a stronger bond with your own horse.

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Understanding Horse Behavior

Learn to Think Like Your Horse.

Horses are not humans, and yet so often, we expect them to be able to process the world just as we do, and are often upset when "silly" or "dumb" things spook or frighten them. In this Masterclass, Tik Maynard goes in-depth on how your horse actually perceives their world, and teaches you how to meet them at their level for better understanding, respect, and ultimately, a much better relationship.

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Training the Spooky or Anxious Horse

Turn Your Horse into a Solid Citizen.

In this masterclass, you'll learn horse behavior, horse psychology, and training fundamentals by expert, author, and top clinician Tik Maynard. Transform your spooky horse into one who listens, thinks, and responds appropriately when placed in uncomfortable situations.

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Training the Young Horse

Give Your Young Horse a Strong Foundation.

The traditional methods of starting young horses usually focus on "making" the horse do something. But what if there was a better way? What if you could connect with your young horse from a place of kindness, and give them confidence through a solid relationship built on mutual respect, rather than force? In this 14 part Masterclass, Tik Maynard shows you how to get started with your young horse in a way that's positive, fun, and sets the tone for a strong, lifelong partnership, regardless of your discipline or desired level of competition.

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Watch or Listen Anywhere

Stream Tik's courses on NF+ on any of your devices, wherever you are.

Tik's Podcast Episodes

Tik has been a guest several times on the award winning Equestrian Voices podcast hosted by Caroline Culbertson. Discover all of his episodes here. 

Natural Horsemanship, Meet Practical Rider

When we learn to ride as children or as adults, we learn to do just that: ride. But when do we learn how to understand our horse's behavior? Why he does what he does? How he views the world and what we're asking of him? 

After all, wouldn't that make riding a heck of a lot easier?

Host Caroline Culbertson sits down with Tik Maynard, who has made a career out of marrying competitive riding with groundwork as an avenue to gaining a deeper understanding about the inner workings of the horse's mind. It has made him more successful (even with the most complicated horses), more patient, and most of all, more fulfilled in his work. 

In this episode, we talk about: 

  • Why groundwork is the key to gaining a deeper understanding for your horse, which will help greatly in your ridden training. 
  • Why this isn't included in the standard curriculum for riders. 
  • How you can apply this to your own program without dedicating an overwhelming amount of time to it. 
  • Lots more... it's a deep dive episode!

Download the episode here.

Listen on Spotify here. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts here. 

Addressing the Troubling Scenes During Modern Pentathlon at the Tokyo Olympics

The show jumping portion of the women's modern pentathlon at the Tokyo Olympics is making headlines - and not in a good way. It was so stressful to watch, there were many rider falls, and lots of stressed out horses who clearly didn’t understand what was expected of them. 

How do we make heads and tails of this? Are there solutions? Host Caroline Culbertson is joined by Tik Maynard, Rick Maynard, and Peter Holmes - who cumulatively have decades of experience in pentathlon as athletes, coaches or course designers - for a roundtable discussion in response to this troubling display of riding. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts.

Listen on Spotify.

Download the episode here.

Why Play Is Key for Building “Try” in Your Horse, and How to Do It with Tik Maynard

When you picture adding “play” into your horse’s training, what comes to mind?

Do you imagine your horse chasing around a large ball or nosing carrots out of a container? Or maybe you see your horse trotting joyfully behind you as you run?

The fact is, play can look like a lot of different things, but it doesn’t have to be any of the above. Play’s purpose is to teach your horse how to “try”–and in the process, both horse and trainer achieve a cooperative partnership.

Equestrian Masterclass instructor (immediately off his 2024 Road to the Horse Colt Starting competition win) Tik Maynard is a horsemanship and upper-level eventing coach who sees ‘play’ not as a series of exercises, but as a beneficial mindset. In the final episode of Equestrian Voices, Tik and Caroline discuss why play is crucial to horse training and how to incorporate it into daily interactions can teach us to be better observers, facilitate better communication, and reignite our passion for horses.. They also cover:

  • The difference between anxiety and playfulness in horses, and why it’s easy to confuse them.
  • Using the social rules of play to ensure both you and your horse are winning the game.
  • Bringing play and thoughtfulness into daily activities like leading your horse.
  • What play is not–drilling, a chore, or hard work!
  • Why it’s important to slow down and take a puzzle-solving approach.
  • Rewarding softness and effort during play.

Listen Here on Apple Podcasts. 

Listen Here on Spotify.

What's Changing with Modern Pentathlon Since the Tokyo Debacle?

In an episode released on August 12, 2021, we addressed the troubling display of poor riding during the equestrian portion of the Modern Pentathlon with Rick Maynard, Tik Maynard, and Peter Holmes - all of whom have been very involved in the sport either currently or previously. 

Now, we're following up and seeing what's in the works. What proposed changes are coming down the pipeline to help Modern Pentathlon evolve into a sport that can support good riding, good horsemanship, and reasonable expectations of those

horses and riders? Are they enough? What aspects of the problem do they address?

Canadian National Champion, Development Coach, and member of the Riding Working Task Force, Joshua Riker-Fox, joins us alongside fellow Canadian National Champion Pentathlete Tik Maynard. Along with host Caroline Culbertson, they discuss: 

- A look inside the proposed changes and what needs to happen next.

- What we can learn about making change in our own sports and disciplines.

- A case for keeping the equestrian portion in Modern Pentathlon

- Personal reflections on how changes happen in sport, who is in charge of them, and what the equestrian community can learn from this turning point in MP. 

Direct download the episode here

Or listen on Spotify 

Or listen on Apple Podcasts

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